I remember where I was when I first saw "Stimpy's Big Day/The Big Shot". I was on vacation in Maine w/ my family, and my siblings and I watched it by chance. I LOVED IT SOOO MUCH, I felt I had never seen anything like it on TV, and we made sure to follow it religiously once we got home!!!

We even had the "what is Ren suppose to be" discussion, and Mosquito was the most likely choice (just like in "Stimpy's Fan Club"lol). And we weren't completely sure if Stimpy was a cat or a dog. But it sure knocked our socks off :) .

That's a nice looking card. I guess if you count the pilot, R&S would be... 21? Ironically enough I was just watching this show minutes ago not realizing it was it's "anniversary". Either way, even with Games Animation taking over, and West taking over Ren, the old R&S was something that no one else will ever top. That is something to be proud of, even if it didn't last too long.

I was wondering if you were going to mention it. I'm sure you've heard 100 times how much of an impression it's made and it's true. Despite the fall-out and eventual demise of the Spumco output on the show, the show is a landmark nonetheless. I hope you look on this anniversary as a great milestone of 20 years of entertainment that you were able to produce for impressionable youth like myself. Congrats, and once again, thanks. :)

The first time I saw R&S I was about 16, my brother 14 (im 33 now) We are also canadian- at the time Victoria BC - I watched a lot of cartoons...but as I watched R&S I immediately felt that unlike WB or HB or whatever ect, this show was aimed directly for me- It had no other agenda than to make me specifically laugh... I felt like this was tailored directly for my brain - so much that I thought others wouldnt get it as well as I GOT it.... but of course it was funny to everyone... I began to laugh so uncontrollably, I remember my skin quivering on my arms after marathons of extended laughter... I still remember the feeling and sensation of these agressive laughs... We both had asthma but we only had one inhaler at the house, I clearly remember fighting over the inhaler with my brother, legitimately gasping for air and thinking I was actually going to die from laughter if there was no break. I was soaking myself in ventalin just to make it between commercials (im not trying to stroke you, but it was just so uniquely funny) I remember thinking during the show, god damn that was hilarious, there is no way this show will make me laugh like that agai... and then id be off again... mind-blowing-ly funny.

Since that- i have always wanted to be a 2d animator as a career - but with no internet, no mentor ect - it was easier for me to make 3D and work for video games... ah well as long as it pisses my parents off... its all good.

but Ill never forget that day my brother and I first saw R&S together. Thank you so much. Its a really strong memory, and it solidified the need in me to be an artist and tell stories. Ever since it started I have read your blog religiously- I dream of what it would be like working at spumco but I take your rants and teachings and feel that it can also apply to all artistic storytelling- even perhaps to the "blasphemous" craft of 3D art too.

Happy belated birthday Ren and Stimpy!Just sat down a few days ago to just watch the entire 1st and 2nd season on DVD.

I still love Robin Hoek and Stimpy's First Fart is still my favorite individual cartoon episode of all time! It's amazing to think you and the Spumco crew put so much work into something for TV, you'd never see stuff like that today!

20 years...damn, I'm getting old. I still remember the first season like it was yesterday. It was such a thrill for me to see something on television that was actually FUNNY. Good job, man. I hope you make more.

"I have to say how this show influenced and resolved my personal problems i having when it came in our Canada cables in 1998. When 1997 was a very hard year for me mentally and socially, Ren & Stimpy was my solution to all of my problems. The humor, art-style, characters exaggeration, the lovely dialogues (Tough the early French dubs kills it and then the later episodes improved it even if it’s too late). They have the sillyness of Warner and the look of early Hanna-Barbera, but have a contemporary vision of how animation should look, as a artform. Most of my favourites episodes was from Games but let’s not forget without the Spumco crew, it’s like this show never existed at all.

Thanks to everyone involved for made it a real cult in animation and art form."

Hey John, I've been checking out your curriculum site recently and I hope you don't mind looking at a few sketches I've done http://burgerboxdesign.blogspot.com/2011/03/proportion-lesson.htmland by the way, Happy 20th Anniversary of Ren and Stimpy! Great Show!

Happy Anniversary and many happy returns! :)R&S has been and still remains the greatest, funniest and most revolutionary tv cartoon of all time, and probably the only modern day cartoon comparable with the golden age classics (immediately after my first viewing of R&S in 1994, I felt that it picked up where Avery, Jones, Clampett and others left, and then started to explore many new, uncharted territories). Also, can't think of any other cartoon in the last few decades that inspired so many people to become cartoonists, animators, and artists in general, so it can be said without hesitation that R&S changed many people's lives (including mine).I hope the chapter on Ren & Stimpy is not completely closed, and that there's still some surprise appearance waiting for us in the future ("Life Sucks" perhaps).

The First time I saw Ren and Stimpy, I thought it was just gross. I also didn't have cable, growing up, so I didn't get a chance to watch it very often, anyway.

When I grew Older, I found it more and more funny. Especially after the Ripping Friends.

The various characters, and commercials were hilarious! I watched Animaniacs on TV (a show that I WAS able to watch) a short time ago, and realized... it's a terrible show. It has jokes only adults would understand, but is aimed at kids, and isn't entertaining to adults.

Also, for your new topics, which you seem to be struggling with, I watched Log Driver's Waltz yesterday, and was wondering why I couldn't find any comments about it on the blog. "Roughly drawn toque, to smurf 3D toque"

Why the fuck am I only just now starting to visit this blog regularly? Ah well, congrats Mr. K. And happy anniversary Ren and Stimpy! Hard to believe it's been 20 years, but the nice thing about great shows like this is that as long as there are people who love them, they will never die.

Happy anniversary, Ren, Stimpy, and John! My kids were little back then, and they loved it---and so did I. Actually, thank you for giving ME something to enjoy, since our TV was on Nickelodeon perpetually. ( Well, I did also like All That).

wow 20 years!? Ren & Stimpy aired a couple of years later in the Netherlands i think. But it's a good day to remember that good cartoons for tv where possible, even if it was for a short while. Thanks for giving us that taste!

Hey John K, I love your blog and your work! I plan on doing all of your animation lessons starting with the Preston Blair book.

I sure do wish I had done this earlier. Now I'm already heading to BYU next week to study animation, starting with traditional hand drawn the first year and then computer animation the rest.

I hope you do continue to make great animation with a full studio like the old days with Ren and Stimpy. If I become worthy one day I'd love to work for you. Now I'm just a kid trying to learn the fundamentals.

All my life I loved the old cartoons just like you and wondered what happened. I have found one cartoon that I like these days. The New Looney Tunes Show on Cartoon Network. What do you think of it?

I still remember watching R&S at your apartment the night before the official airing. In a room full of animation's biggest talents it was surprising how many of the attendees were completely blindsided by what they saw. For the next few years your goofy little cat and dog were a constant source of inspiration and the standard by which "funny" was measured. Thanks for making animation bearable in the '90's. Here's to ya, brother!

Everyone is copying the noses and the girly eyes and the weirdness, but for me what makes the show is the fact that it's a horror film played up for laughs. And it's a parody of common logic and sense, among other things.

I first saw it on MuchMusic in Montreal. The ads were on all the time, so I tuned in. First thing I saw was Robin Hoek and Nurse Stimpy, and I thought "Meh. It's got potential." Started taping the episodes, and once Space Madness was on, all my friends were in on it. No party from that point on anywhere in town would be complete without everyone sitting in front of the TV laughing hysterically at the big lady painting in Fire Dogs, and someone yelling, "You mean I'm NOT on acid??"

When I read about the troubled history of the production, I wasn't surprised; the first 13 episodes looked like an act of war on something, didn't know what at the time. Much yanked it off the air right after, handing down a bunch of excuses.

Congrats on the 20th anniversary of the show, John. I remember the first "Ren & Stimpy" thing I saw: seasons 1 & 2 at Blockbuster. I remember thinking, "why the heck is a weird alien (Ren) carrying a giant, fat dog (Stimpy). Then I saw the episodes when I got older, I laughed my butt off, mostly at the drawings, by how funny they looked. Also, I am also an artist, who's been learning the principles from your blog and the Preston Blair book, currently trying to get hiarcery down. Will you please critiqe my art so I can learn what to improve? Hope the best for you in future projects and thanks for Ren and Stimpy and helping to revive the creater-driven generation. Here's where you can see my art:http://mushmeister67.deviantart.com/

One thing I will never forget is the first time I stumbled across Rent and Stimpy. I was laughing so loud my parents came into the room and asked me to shut the hell up, please and thank you. Then I made them watch it with me. Pretty soon the entire family watched R&S together on a regular basis. During a time when all of us had so much going on in life - school, work, etc - it was great to have R&S to bring us all together every now and then. I'm in my 30s now and have kids of my own, all of whom are big Ren and Stimpy fans. Thanks again John!

What a relief when this first aired. You mean someone else likes cartoony cartoons?? Irony and subtlety and all things in between?? Astounding confounding and befuddlingly toast-like! A well deserved uber pat on ze back.

Happy anniversary to one of the greatest cartoons ever to be broadcast on television in the last 30 years. I didn't think we'd get to this point so quickly, especially since back in 2006, when I first started reading the blog, the show was only about 15 years old then. Amazing what time does...

After they fired John from his own damn show after the second season, the quality fell off a cliff. I stopped watching the show during the third season. The voices became bland and boring, there was never another original expression drawn, the acting was pathetic and they repeated one idea after another from the first two seasons, over and over again for years and it wasnt funny anymore. I had only seen a couple of episodes from the third season so I have had very good memories of the shows greatness. Tonight I saw a couple of "Games" episodes on TV and they were horrible. After seeing what Bob and Vanessa did to the show its amazing that it wasnt cancelled sooner. That just shows how much of a genius John is, even a bunch of lesser people could keep the show going for years off of his great ideas even though they werent executed worth a damn. Games took the greatest cartoon ever drawn and turned it into shit.

So, um, I guess what Im trying to say is, congratulations. Those first two and a half seasons were fantastic. I dont know what the hell that crap was that came after.

The first couple of times I saw the show it literally put me on the floor from laughter. I was on my hands and knees gasping for breath with snot flying out of my nose and tears pouring down my face. I have never laughed so hard at anything in my life. Even my favorite comedians havent done that for me. I had never seen anything so funny before, and havent seen anything that funny since. Thanks John K, I love you.

Happy B-day to Ren & Stimpy and thanks for the mirth and hilarity. Hope one day "Life Stinks" gets beyond animatics and hits the big screen - there oughta be one Ren & Stimpy (and George Liquor,too) big screen outing, even if it's twenty minutes long.